The present invention relates to automatically landing an aircraft, possibly even an unmanned aircraft, which is equipped with appropriate navigational controls.
Automated instrument landing is known generally and has been developed into practical use. The requisite instrumentation is quite extensive and expensive and must bear a reasonable relation to the benefit gained therewith. Of course, commercial aircraft, military transport planes, and similar type crafts, will always justify the expense. The situation is different, however, for small, unmanned aircraft, such as small reconnaissance planes, also known as remotely piloted vehicles, or RPV, for short. Instrument landing in the conventional sense cannot be realized here in a cost-effective manner, so that these planes are usually brought down by means of parachutes, nets, or the like.